Month: September 2012

Some revisions have been made to the Oakland Athletic League athletic eligibility policy, but the same number of credits will still be needed to be eligible, OAL commissioner Russell White said.
The credit requirement, which became OAL policy in the spring, is 50 to become a sophomore, 110 to become a junior and 170 to become a senior, White said. He also said that the student’s grade point average which will be considered for athletic eligibility is from the student’s last semester, not his or her total GPA.
An appeal process has also been established for credit issues, White said.
Castlemont High’s football team was forced last week to cancel nonleague games against Healdsburg and Encinal because of a lack of eligible players. It also forfeited its first scheduled game of the season on Sept. 7 against Vista del Lago-Folsom because of player eligibility issues.
Last week, Castlemont coach Lloyd Johnson said he was optimistic that he would have enough eligible players to play in the team’s scheduled OAL opener at Oakland Tech on Oct. 12.
“I would think that it is going to help Castlemont,” said White, who coached the Knights in 2010 and 2011, about the changes. “I feel that they will play soon.”
Skyline also forfeited a football game scheduled for Aug. 31 because of a lack of eligible players, but has fielded a team since then.
White said the changes were made by the OAL policy committee, of which he is not a voting member. It consists entirely of principals from each high school in the Oakland Unified School District, White said.

Three former Las Positas College men’s basketball players, led by Logan High graduate Jarred Jourdan, have signed with four-year schools for the 2012-13 season.

Jourdan signed with Division I Liberty University (Va.) and has three seasons of eligibility remaining. Dwight Abad (Logan) signed with Bethany College (Kan.), and Ryan Hebebrand (Granada) signed with Cal State East Bay. Abad and Hebebrand have two more seasons of eligibility.

Hebebrand and Abad last played for Las Positas in the 2010-11 season.

Jourdan, a 6-foot-5 forward , averaged 16 points and 6.3 rebounds last season. He also shot 49 percent from the floor, and over his last three games, which included two in the postseason, Jourdan averaged 28.3 points. He was named to the first-team All-Coast Conference North Division squad.

Former McClymonds High boys basketball coach Dwight Nathaniel is back to work at the school, now serving as a co-athletic director.
The coach who led the Warriors to a 32-0 season and state championship in 2008 is hoping to lend a hand to the athletics department.
“Hopefully, I can made a difference,” Nathaniel said.
Nathaniel retired from coaching after the 2008 season and also is retired from his work for the city of Berkeley. He’s always maintained a steady presence on campus since he stopped coaching.
He said he originally turned down the position when McClymonds principal Kevin Taylor first offered it to him. Eventually he committed to one year on the job.
At the time, he didn’t realize the chaos going on in the Oakland Athletic League in response to the district’s policy requiring student-athletes to be on track to graduate.
The rule requires students to have a certain amount of units in addition to a 2.0 grade-point average. It also makes students who aren’t qualified on the first day of school ineligible for the entire school year and doesn’t allow for hardship waivers.
“It could be a good rule, but it should’ve been phased in,” Nathaniel said.
The rule is currently being reviewed by the district principals.

Good news for the Encinal football team and a good resolution to last week’s blog post about the Jets needing a game. Encinal coach Joe Tenorio texted me earlier to let me know the Jets will host Vallejo at 7 p.m. on Friday. Vallejo is 0-3 on the year and went just 1-9 last year, but for the Jets, it’s a game and that’s a big deal.

There’s good news for the Mt. Eden High community: Football player Guadalupe Rico was released from Kaiser Hospital-Hayward last night, his brother Noe said.
Guadalupe Rico, the Monarchs’ starting quarterback, was attended by paramedics on the Mt. Eden High field after sustaining an injury during a sack with two minutes, 25 seconds to play in Mt. Eden’s 25-20 loss to Oakland on Friday. He was carried off the field and taken by ambulance to Kaiser-Hayward.
Noe Rico said that Guadalupe has a bad contusion in his spine. Noe said that Rico should be back to school this upcoming week, but he did not know when Rico would be able to play football.

El Cerrito turned in one of the biggest surprises of the young season as the No. 10 Gauchos ended No. 4 Campolindo’s winning streak Friday night.

Also, see why a narrow win by De La Salle has coach Bob Ladouceur a bit displeased. And check out how the other Top 15 teams in the BANG rankings fared, and see which players played starring roles, by checking out our Week 4 prep football recap.

Encinal High is looking for a varsity football game for next week after Castlemont informed them this afternoon that it has to cancel next week’s scheduled game against the Jets. If there’s a team with an opening that would like to play Encinal, contact coach Joe Tenorio at jtguam95@yahoo.com.